A new nationwide survey of business brokers by BizBuySell.com shows that 2013 was a big year for small business transactions, due mainly to Baby Boomers who reached retirement age and sold their businesses.

There was a 68 percent increase in business transactions in 2013 compared to 2012. Of those businesses that were bought and sold in 2013, about half of those sales came from business owners from the Baby Boomer generation who wanted out.

The same BizBuySell survey shows that 83 percent of survey respondents believe even more businesses will be sold in 2014, including a number of firms currently owned by people from the Baby Boomer generation.

But why was 2013 a good time to buy and sell a business?

Brokers attributed the spike in small business transactions to the improving economy and an increase in the number of buyers and sellers on the market. It appears that a number of sellers were waiting for the recession to end to see if they could fetch the best price before selling, according to the survey.

“This year was certainly a big step forward for the business transaction market,” says Curtis Kroeker, group general manager at BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com. “After several years of gradual progress, there was a sharp spike in business transactions at the end of 2012 and it carried over throughout 2013. BizBuySell’s transaction numbers increased every quarter of the year and it’s good to see that the broker community noticed the same improvement.”

One reason why BizBuySell is experiencing an uptick in businesses being listed for sale and being sold is the Affordable Care Act. The survey found that new health care regulations are encouraging some business owners to sell their firms in order to avoid the extra costs and uncertainty associated with the new law.

The survey found that 21 percent of business brokers were concerned with health care costs on small businesses. Some 35 percent of respondents listed a potential U.S. debt crisis in 2014 as a looming threat to the economic recovery, which could hamper business transactions.

“Overall brokers recognize the uncertainty of the economy, but still appear very confident that small business transactions will continue to rise in 2014,” Kroeker adds. “As more buyers and sellers, including Baby Boomers, continue to flood the market, all the pieces point to another strong year in the business-for-sale community.”

BizBuySell, a division of CoStar Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP), bills itself as the Internet’s largest business for sale website. BizBuySell currently has an inventory of 45,000 businesses up for sale in 80 countries at any given time.